Nice and toasty after his bath
Ahhh I'm freezing!! Note the tape on his knees...this little guy likes to sleep on his stomach so much that he was getting a rug burn on his knees..this tape helps him not get a rash..
Mommy giving this a try..
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Blakes first bath!!
The tiny man finally had his first bath tonight. He wasn't as excited about it as his sister was, but he still did a pretty good job...although he had mommy do it instead of the practised nurse...
Nice and toasty after his bath
Ahhh I'm freezing!! Note the tape on his knees...this little guy likes to sleep on his stomach so much that he was getting a rug burn on his knees..this tape helps him not get a rash..
Mommy giving this a try..
Nice and toasty after his bath
Ahhh I'm freezing!! Note the tape on his knees...this little guy likes to sleep on his stomach so much that he was getting a rug burn on his knees..this tape helps him not get a rash..
Mommy giving this a try..
A Dark cloud lifted!!
First let me start by saying that everyone is fine...Babies are in perfect health.
When the babies were born they both had standard Cranial ultrasounds of their brains...Blakes came back normal and Leah's came back with some questions. We kept this a secret because we didn't want to create extra stress for ourselves or our families. There was some concern that there were some bright spots on the white matter of her brain that needed a second look..
From my non-medical translation of what we were told was the ultrasounds these days are so sensitive that it can pick up stuff thats not really there... or the concern was that if these bright spots got worse on the second ultrasound or didn't change that would mean that there was lack of blood to the brain and the tissue in those spots would die, this would ultimately mean badness...I never asked what "badness" meant but it was made to sound pretty grim...
Yesterday I went with little Leah for her second ultrasound...and today we received the results...
NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL...No bright spots at all, so it must have been the ultra sensitive equipment picking up stuff that wasn't actually on the brain...I can't even describe to you how incredibly relieved we are. I thought I was going to throw up going in there today...
Kirk and I both had extremely heavy weight on our shoulders this past 4 weeks and kept wondering what if. We thought in our minds that there is no way she could have anything so seriously wrong with her, she was doing so well it seemed impossible...having spent 1 month in the NICU I think we were a little tainted realizing that bad things can happen to good people...She had some placenta and cord issues on the inside plus it was her water that broke that started labour so there was some back and forth with what ifs
Our news was GREAT news and we now can breath a sigh of relief and move forward after this ridiculous stress...By far the worst thing we have experienced as parents...Not that anything about these babies has been easy, I finally feel like we have finished our last big hurdle and we are on the home stretch. Today is a glorious day!!
When the babies were born they both had standard Cranial ultrasounds of their brains...Blakes came back normal and Leah's came back with some questions. We kept this a secret because we didn't want to create extra stress for ourselves or our families. There was some concern that there were some bright spots on the white matter of her brain that needed a second look..
From my non-medical translation of what we were told was the ultrasounds these days are so sensitive that it can pick up stuff thats not really there... or the concern was that if these bright spots got worse on the second ultrasound or didn't change that would mean that there was lack of blood to the brain and the tissue in those spots would die, this would ultimately mean badness...I never asked what "badness" meant but it was made to sound pretty grim...
Yesterday I went with little Leah for her second ultrasound...and today we received the results...
NORMAL NORMAL NORMAL...No bright spots at all, so it must have been the ultra sensitive equipment picking up stuff that wasn't actually on the brain...I can't even describe to you how incredibly relieved we are. I thought I was going to throw up going in there today...
Kirk and I both had extremely heavy weight on our shoulders this past 4 weeks and kept wondering what if. We thought in our minds that there is no way she could have anything so seriously wrong with her, she was doing so well it seemed impossible...having spent 1 month in the NICU I think we were a little tainted realizing that bad things can happen to good people...She had some placenta and cord issues on the inside plus it was her water that broke that started labour so there was some back and forth with what ifs
Our news was GREAT news and we now can breath a sigh of relief and move forward after this ridiculous stress...By far the worst thing we have experienced as parents...Not that anything about these babies has been easy, I finally feel like we have finished our last big hurdle and we are on the home stretch. Today is a glorious day!!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
4 weeks old!!!
Holy smoly as Alyssa would say... 4 weeks old!! Hard to believe my little twinkies are already 4 weeks old!! They crazy part about that is how surreal this still all feels and I'm sure to Alyssa and our families who have never even met these little monkies...Good news is they are doing great and hopefully in another 4 weeks they will be all settled in at home!!
Update from today is both babies are anemic, but that is common in prem babies (as they referred to them in the NICU) they are now on Iron suppliments as well as another multi-vitamin. Blake had an eye infection today, he is getting some cream on his eye every 6 hours but it appeared fine to me...I honestly think he's poked himself in the eye one too many times...Although the little baby beside him had an eye infection yesterday so that seems a little weird...
Both babies breastfed today quite well...Leah ate a full feed "from the tap" today which was great...I had fairly low expectations but both suprised me. Blake did fairly well also and followed it with almost a full bottle..No bath for Blake today but hopefully soon, now that he's a full 4 weeks he probably needs it ;) Blake did AWESOME today with his brady's..he's went a full 36 hours without one, he blew it this afternoon when I was there and he only had 1 the day before that. Leah gained a lot again over night, Blake a measly 1 gram.. but on the growth curve both are doing great...
4 weeks later I am pretty well all healed, hard to believe how fast my incision healed, a bit tender to the touch still but mostly its good...4 weeks later I can fit into my regular jeans..Woohoooo!! Somehow my tops still don't fit great and still have a little belly and good chunk of weight to lose, stretch marks are reasonable...bread dough stomach still there...but we are making progress.
Wow what a difference 28 weeks makes!!! On April 22, 2009 transferred 2 embryos. We were told we had a 70% chance based off of my age and the quality of the embryos that we would be able to acheive a pregnancy. We were also told then that we had a 40% chance it would be twins...Here are Blake and Leah's first baby pictures...wonder which one is which!!
And here we are less than 9 months later...a true miracle!!!!
Blake, his eyes have ointment all over them...
Little pumpkin pie..for some reason I always call her Leah Maria...
Update from today is both babies are anemic, but that is common in prem babies (as they referred to them in the NICU) they are now on Iron suppliments as well as another multi-vitamin. Blake had an eye infection today, he is getting some cream on his eye every 6 hours but it appeared fine to me...I honestly think he's poked himself in the eye one too many times...Although the little baby beside him had an eye infection yesterday so that seems a little weird...
Both babies breastfed today quite well...Leah ate a full feed "from the tap" today which was great...I had fairly low expectations but both suprised me. Blake did fairly well also and followed it with almost a full bottle..No bath for Blake today but hopefully soon, now that he's a full 4 weeks he probably needs it ;) Blake did AWESOME today with his brady's..he's went a full 36 hours without one, he blew it this afternoon when I was there and he only had 1 the day before that. Leah gained a lot again over night, Blake a measly 1 gram.. but on the growth curve both are doing great...
4 weeks later I am pretty well all healed, hard to believe how fast my incision healed, a bit tender to the touch still but mostly its good...4 weeks later I can fit into my regular jeans..Woohoooo!! Somehow my tops still don't fit great and still have a little belly and good chunk of weight to lose, stretch marks are reasonable...bread dough stomach still there...but we are making progress.
Wow what a difference 28 weeks makes!!! On April 22, 2009 transferred 2 embryos. We were told we had a 70% chance based off of my age and the quality of the embryos that we would be able to acheive a pregnancy. We were also told then that we had a 40% chance it would be twins...Here are Blake and Leah's first baby pictures...wonder which one is which!!
And here we are less than 9 months later...a true miracle!!!!
Blake, his eyes have ointment all over them...
Little pumpkin pie..for some reason I always call her Leah Maria...
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Bath time!!
Today Leah got a bath!! Yes her very first bath in 1 month...It was 4 weeks ago tonight that I went into labour with them..Hard to believe! In anycase she hadn't had a real proper bath yet so today we bathed her, ok the nurse bathed her and I watched. We were going to bath Blake but we ran out of time before his feed so we will tomorrow... Leah did pretty good without too much crying. These pictures of her look just like Alyssa did when she was a baby. Now that she is getting a bit fatter you can really see the resemblance. I am going to have to go search for some of Alyssa to compare.
Both Babies gained weight again overnight which of course is great. Leah is at 3lbs 10oz which is 1 whole pound above her birth weight and Blake is at 3lbs 8oz...Blake is continuing to have some Brady's (actually pronounced Brad-ies) which was discussed at rounds this morning. Dr said he wasn't concerned because the dips are so brief and he always recovers on his own. If he doesn't slow down soon they will simply add a little more caffeine which should help, I guess some babies even come home on caffeine. They won't allow them to go home until they are Brady free for a week!! Right now Blake has between 2-6 a day...I can't believe its December 1st, that means my goal of having them home for Christmas is only 3.5 weeks away...Are they going to be ready?? I don't know..I'm hoping now that they are over 34 weeks gestation that they will starting maturing faster, for now it seems forever away. Leah may even be ready before Blake is...
One last note, my dear friend is expecting twins 8 weeks after mine were due, she is now having some complications and is at risk for pre-term labour..If you can spare some prayers and extra postive thoughts for her little ones to keep baking I'm sure they would appreciate it!!
Blake being tube fed, I bottle fed him at his feed before this one and he only did about half of it. He wasn't interested in breastfeeding either...this feed we needed him to have all of it plus he was all tired out. Now they only put the tube down his throat as they need to, it doesn't stay in all the time.
Leah having a good cuddle with daddy after her dinner, which was also a tube feed. She did pretty good with her bottle and wasn't interested in breastfeeding either. Why go through all that work when I just lie there and have it poored into my tummy!!
My favorite, double snuggles!
Leah having a bath...She looks just like Alyssa did as a baby in this picture!!
Blakes favorite position, looking over at Leah
Awww so comfy...
Both Babies gained weight again overnight which of course is great. Leah is at 3lbs 10oz which is 1 whole pound above her birth weight and Blake is at 3lbs 8oz...Blake is continuing to have some Brady's (actually pronounced Brad-ies) which was discussed at rounds this morning. Dr said he wasn't concerned because the dips are so brief and he always recovers on his own. If he doesn't slow down soon they will simply add a little more caffeine which should help, I guess some babies even come home on caffeine. They won't allow them to go home until they are Brady free for a week!! Right now Blake has between 2-6 a day...I can't believe its December 1st, that means my goal of having them home for Christmas is only 3.5 weeks away...Are they going to be ready?? I don't know..I'm hoping now that they are over 34 weeks gestation that they will starting maturing faster, for now it seems forever away. Leah may even be ready before Blake is...
One last note, my dear friend is expecting twins 8 weeks after mine were due, she is now having some complications and is at risk for pre-term labour..If you can spare some prayers and extra postive thoughts for her little ones to keep baking I'm sure they would appreciate it!!
Blake being tube fed, I bottle fed him at his feed before this one and he only did about half of it. He wasn't interested in breastfeeding either...this feed we needed him to have all of it plus he was all tired out. Now they only put the tube down his throat as they need to, it doesn't stay in all the time.
The little man out like a light after his dinner
Leah having a good cuddle with daddy after her dinner, which was also a tube feed. She did pretty good with her bottle and wasn't interested in breastfeeding either. Why go through all that work when I just lie there and have it poored into my tummy!!
My favorite, double snuggles!
Leah having a bath...She looks just like Alyssa did as a baby in this picture!!
Blakes favorite position, looking over at Leah
Awww so comfy...
Monday, November 30, 2009
Exhausted...
Not sure why but today I am super exhausted....I can only imagine what it will be like when the babies come home. I'm starting to have some anxiety over how the heck I'm going to keep up feeding these babies when they come home...
For now the babies are mostly tube fed at the hospital, Leah is bottle fed 3 times a day and Blake 2 times a day...Right now they eat every 3 hours. As they get better at it they'll get more and more until they are only on bottles. I get the opportunity to breastfed them at their 2:00pm feed...Today Leah wasn't interested and Blake was the champ and ate like a hungry little piggy...Change bum, feed, cuddle and repeat with the next baby...By the time that happens it leaves me enough time to pump and think about doing it all over again...
Realistically they will be better at the bottle when they come home since I can't be at all their feeds to breastfeed them...I'm just struggling with what will it be like when they come home. Will they only want to bottle feed? And if so how will I fit in pumping around all that bottle feeding...Will they only want to breastfeed? Holy cow thats a lot of pressure to be the only one able to feed them...Will one want the bottle and one want to breastfeed?? So many questions I don't know the answers too. Truthfully this was my only concern when I was pregnant with them, I just couldn't get my head around the whole feeding thing, turns out I had valid concerns...
I calculated the other day that I am producing 2 litres of milk per day, right now the babies are eating collectively 1/2 litre (500mls) so that leaves me with a freezer full of milk already. I suppose I could feed them bottle with frozen milk until the supply runs out...but what if it runs out too fast? What if I throw in the towel on pumping to early and can't get my supply back...
All of these crazy unanswered questions that are driving me crazy, and mostly because I'm tired I'm sure...I'm super determined to give these tiny preemies as much breast milk as I can handle before losing it completely. They need all the help they can to grow and thrive and it is HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended to try my best to give it to them exclusively...(I am not anti-formula by the way)
Anyways, I forgot my camera the past 2 days which is why no pictures...I already put it in my bag for tomorrow. Both monkies are doing well, Leah is growing like a weed up almost 100gms over her brother but both are doing well...
Goodnight, off to sleep before I have to get up and pump again...booo on pumping...
For now the babies are mostly tube fed at the hospital, Leah is bottle fed 3 times a day and Blake 2 times a day...Right now they eat every 3 hours. As they get better at it they'll get more and more until they are only on bottles. I get the opportunity to breastfed them at their 2:00pm feed...Today Leah wasn't interested and Blake was the champ and ate like a hungry little piggy...Change bum, feed, cuddle and repeat with the next baby...By the time that happens it leaves me enough time to pump and think about doing it all over again...
Realistically they will be better at the bottle when they come home since I can't be at all their feeds to breastfeed them...I'm just struggling with what will it be like when they come home. Will they only want to bottle feed? And if so how will I fit in pumping around all that bottle feeding...Will they only want to breastfeed? Holy cow thats a lot of pressure to be the only one able to feed them...Will one want the bottle and one want to breastfeed?? So many questions I don't know the answers too. Truthfully this was my only concern when I was pregnant with them, I just couldn't get my head around the whole feeding thing, turns out I had valid concerns...
I calculated the other day that I am producing 2 litres of milk per day, right now the babies are eating collectively 1/2 litre (500mls) so that leaves me with a freezer full of milk already. I suppose I could feed them bottle with frozen milk until the supply runs out...but what if it runs out too fast? What if I throw in the towel on pumping to early and can't get my supply back...
All of these crazy unanswered questions that are driving me crazy, and mostly because I'm tired I'm sure...I'm super determined to give these tiny preemies as much breast milk as I can handle before losing it completely. They need all the help they can to grow and thrive and it is HIGHLY HIGHLY recommended to try my best to give it to them exclusively...(I am not anti-formula by the way)
Anyways, I forgot my camera the past 2 days which is why no pictures...I already put it in my bag for tomorrow. Both monkies are doing well, Leah is growing like a weed up almost 100gms over her brother but both are doing well...
Goodnight, off to sleep before I have to get up and pump again...booo on pumping...
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Feeders and Growers
Another great day in the NICU for our little ones today. They are referred to as feeders and growers, which mean all they are really there for is to learn how to feed and to grow and then they get to go home...Today was a pretty exciting day on the feeding part...I was able to nurse Leah for the first time and she did awesome! She has had about 4 bottles since the big move and had done a great job so today they told me to give breastfeeding a try. She opened her little mouth and latched on without any trouble at all. She really did a wonderful job and we let her nurse for about 10 minutes. Right now they don't really want her to get a lot of milk from the nursing, its more about the practise. I had pumped right before so she didn't get too much milk. We followed it with a bottle which she drank all of...That was a very big moment for us and it literally went off without a hitch...
Now little Blake hadn't had a bottle yet, but we tried him out at nursing too and he wasn't the least bit interested...really though I think it was premature since he hadn't even given the bottle a try at that point. We did give him his first bottle after that and he did a fairly good job. He ate 21mls out of his 30mls. Maybe after a few more bottles we'll try out the breastfeeding again. He did seem to swallow a lot of air with the bottle, I could hear it as he swallowed. He did have a few good burps and continued eating but his enthusiasm wasn't quite the same as his sisters...
Today's weigh ins Leah 3lbs8oz Blake 3lbs6oz...awesome awesome :)
The babes today when we got there, even sharing a blanket how cute! The nurse said yesterday that they are starting to fuss when the other is taken out of their bed...I did see it for myself when we took Blake out, Leah woke from a dead sleep and fussed for her brother to come back in...I am loving them being together...Apparently they don't recommend them sleeping together when they get home for SIDS related reasons, however there seems to be some conflicting information out there I'll have to look into. They will be sharing a room anyways, it might be a good idea to seperate them so they don't have trouble down the road...
They look so grown up these days with their sleepers and tape free/tube free faces...
We were sent home from Foothills with some of these adorable knitted hats and a pair of knitted booties. I guess there are volunteers who donate all of these knitted hats for the NICU babies.
Now little Blake hadn't had a bottle yet, but we tried him out at nursing too and he wasn't the least bit interested...really though I think it was premature since he hadn't even given the bottle a try at that point. We did give him his first bottle after that and he did a fairly good job. He ate 21mls out of his 30mls. Maybe after a few more bottles we'll try out the breastfeeding again. He did seem to swallow a lot of air with the bottle, I could hear it as he swallowed. He did have a few good burps and continued eating but his enthusiasm wasn't quite the same as his sisters...
Today's weigh ins Leah 3lbs8oz Blake 3lbs6oz...awesome awesome :)
The babes today when we got there, even sharing a blanket how cute! The nurse said yesterday that they are starting to fuss when the other is taken out of their bed...I did see it for myself when we took Blake out, Leah woke from a dead sleep and fussed for her brother to come back in...I am loving them being together...Apparently they don't recommend them sleeping together when they get home for SIDS related reasons, however there seems to be some conflicting information out there I'll have to look into. They will be sharing a room anyways, it might be a good idea to seperate them so they don't have trouble down the road...
Leah drinking her "Bubby" as Big sister Alyssa would call it.
They look so grown up these days with their sleepers and tape free/tube free faces...
We were sent home from Foothills with some of these adorable knitted hats and a pair of knitted booties. I guess there are volunteers who donate all of these knitted hats for the NICU babies.
Blake all tired out after his big bottle feed...
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